George Jones

George was born in Saratoga, Texas on September 12, 1931.
During the summer months he would stay at a farm south of Waco tending cotton. This was during the Great Depression, a time of dust bowls and swarms of grasshoppers. To fight off the grasshoppers, George and his Uncle Dub would mix up a batch of syrup and arsenic, then spread it on the cotton.

George had no interest in schooling, and his
parents knew it. They let him drop out
of seventh grade cause there was no stopping
him. He wandered the streets of Beaumont singing and playing.

One day by chance he was singing and playing next to a shoeshine. To his amazement, people started tossing money at his feet. Someone brought him a cup...that's when George realized one could actually make
money at this.

Now lots of folks are going to talk about how
wild George was, how many car wrecks, fist fights, ripped up motel rooms, lord knows what. It's true. I really don't want to write about that...we'll leave that to the historians.